The present invention relates to the sale of products. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for determining a posting payment amount.
A large market exists to help people transact xe2x80x9cperson-to-personxe2x80x9d commerce. For example, a person may wish to sell an item, such as a camera, that he or she owns but no longer uses. Although the item could be sold to a used-item store, a better price often results if the item is instead sold directly to another person. The seller, however, is typically not able to determine a reasonable price for the item. The item could be compared to similar items being offered for sale, such as in the classified advertisements section of a newspaper, but the specific item model, the condition of the item and any peripherals included with the item may make such a comparison difficult.
To make sure that an item is being sold at a reasonable price, it is important that the item is offered to a large audience of potential buyers. Similarly, to make sure that a good selection of items are offered at reasonable prices, it is important that many sellers offer items for sale. As a result, xe2x80x9con-linexe2x80x9d person-to-person commerce services that can connect a large number of potential sellers and buyers, such as World Wide Web sites provided through the Internet, have become increasingly popular.
Two types of such on-line services will now be briefly described. In a classified advertisement, or xe2x80x9cclassifieds,xe2x80x9d type of service, a seller can advertise (xe2x80x9cpostxe2x80x9d) an item to be sold at a particular price. When a buyer agrees to purchase the item at that price, the item is sold to the buyer. The post (i.e. the advertisement) may include, for example, the type of item, the condition of the item, any peripherals included with the item, and the price of the item.
In an xe2x80x9cauctionxe2x80x9d type of on-line service, a seller posts an item to be sold by auction. A post for an auction would include, for example, the type of item, the condition of the item, any included peripherals, but would not include a price of the item. A number of buyers can submit bids for that item, and the item is then sold to the bidder that submits the highest bid price. Such a posting service can let a seller set a xe2x80x9cfloor pricexe2x80x9d for the item. That is, the item will not be sold below the floor price even if no higher bids are submitted. The floor price would not be disseminated to potential bidders.
Both the classifieds and auction types of posting services may find it difficult, however, to attract sellers. Although many people own items they no longer use, there is no immediate incentive for them to place those items on sale. Moreover, there are a growing number of posting services to choose from, resulting in competition among services to attract sellers.
These factors have caused some posting services to pay sellers a fixed amount in exchange for posting an item to be sold. For example, a posting service may pay a seller $1.00 for each item that is posted. This arrangement, however, has several disadvantages. In particular, different types of items may not be equally important to a posting service. For example, a posting service may want to specialize in, or expand the number of postings with respect to, computer equipment. In this case, a post for a computer monitor and a post for an antique doll, which is less important to the posting service, will both cost the posting service the same amount. Unscrupulous sellers may even post trivial items merely to obtain the fixed amount in exchange.
Similarly, the value of items being sold may make some posts more attractive to the posting service. Many posting services make a profit by charging the seller a commission on the final sale price of the item. In this case, a posting for an item that is reasonably priced at $1,000 will be more important to the posting service than a posting for an item that is reasonably priced at $10. Paying an equal amount for both posts, however, will not encourage people to submit the more valuable items to be sold. Other factors, such as the reputation of a seller, may also be important to the posting service.
Another disadvantage with paying a fixed fee for a post is that the fee is paid to the seller even if the item is never sold. That is, the posting service paying the fixed fee may never receive a commission. Accordingly, a reasonable posting for an item at $100 may be worth more to the posting service than an unreasonable posting for a similar item at $1,000 since the unreasonable posting is unlikely to sell, and thus unlikely to result in a commission.
Thus, a need exists for a system and method that encourages a seller to post an item for sale, especially at a reasonable price.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,072 to Nymyer is directed to a computer-managed auction market system. The Nymyer patent does not address the determination of a fee to be provided to a seller in return for posting an item to be sold. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,400 to Mandler et al. provides a clearinghouse to enable on-line transactions between sellers and buyers. Mandler et al. determines a discount fee based on the reputation of the buyer, but does not disclose offering the seller an incentive to post an item for sale.
To alleviate the problems inherent in the prior art, the present invention introduces systems and methods for determining a posting payment amount.
In one embodiment of the present invention, information is received about a post for an item to be sold. Based on the received information, a posting payment amount to be paid to sellers in exchange for posting is determined.
With these and other advantages and features of the invention that will become hereinafter apparent, the nature of the invention may be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description of the invention, the appended claims and to the several drawings attached herein.